DRIED MATERIALS

Last Wednesday evening I took this photo with my mobile phone. A storm cloud in the east was illuminated by the rays of the setting sun. They were coming through the haze of bush fire smoke and turned the cloud to shades of amber. The storm was exceedingly heavy in the Dandenong Rangers east of Melbourne and the bush fires were causing great losses in some of the smaller communities in the west of the state. It seemed to me that the camera captured the fearful beauty (and drama) of nature's some times violent events.

In the previous week I had set my Geelong students the task of making an ikebana expressing their, "Memories of summer (holidays ?) ". Their interpretations were surprisingly varied, as were those of my Melbourne students that I posted two weeks ago. Tess and Helen thought back to childhood memories.

Tess grew up in Cornwall UK and had memories of walking on the Quantock hills of the Somerset Moors. Her ikebana, using materials available in her garden, invokes the memory of ferns, English Heather and Broom.

Helen spent her childhood in rural western Victoria. Her memories were of visiting her grandparents' property, where her grandfather kept a productive vegetable garden. When I saw the silverbeet leaves, my first impression was of tall poplar trees. Partially hidden in the vessel is a small Zucchini flower.

Maureen's ikebana represented the "...ups, downs and ups..." experienced over the holiday period. She used the maroon coloured central rib of Strelitzia like a bar graph to show the progress. the other materials represented periods of optimism.

Christine saw a lot of her grandchildren over the summer holidays. Her ikebana represents the much repeated game of 'hide and seek' with the grandchildren.

Ellie's ikebana is her response to the hot, dry weather over summer and is represented by the dry grass, orange coloured Helichrysum flowers and the unglazed ochre coloured vessel.

My own ikebana this week was made at the first meeting and workshop of the Victorian Branch of the Sogetsu School.

The theme of the workshop was the preparation and use of dried materials in ikebana. I used a, now rather old, dried unopened bud of Artichoke Cynara Cardunculus var. scolymus.  It was given to me by my student Marcia. Also a dried Aspidistra A. elatior  and some green, spent Agapanthus A. praecox flower heads. The Aspidistra leaves were curved before drying. The fresh green material brings the ikebana alive.

The ikebana vessel is by Tom Cockram who, at the time I bought the piece, had his studio in Daylesford Victoria.

Further photos from the Victorian Branch workshop.

Greetings from Christopher
25th February 2024